[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 15, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63681-63682]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-26160]


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LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION


Development of a National Reporting System To Collect Performance 
and ``Outcomes'' Information on the Results of the Services Provided by 
LSC-funded Grantees to Eligible Clients

AGENCY: Legal Services Corporation.

ACTION: Request for Information on the Development of a National 
Reporting System to Collect Performance and ``Outcomes'' Information on 
the Results of the Services Provided by LSC-funded Grantees to Eligible 
Clients.

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SUMMARY: This notice is a request for information for use by the Legal 
Services Corporation regarding the Development of a National Reporting 
System to Collect ``Outcomes'' Information on the Results of the 
Services Provided by LSC-funded grantees to Eligible Clients.

ADDRESSES: Two (2) copies of written submissions should be addressed to 
Wendy Burnette, Legal Services Corporation, 750 First Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20002-4250.

DATES: Information must be submitted by 5 p.m., January 17, 2003. This 
is an extension of submission date of September 28, 2002 included in a 
previously published notice for this RFI.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Randi Youells or Michael Genz, Legal 
Services Corporation, 750 1st Street NE., Washington, DC 20002-4250.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is a 
private, nonprofit corporation established by the Congress of the 
United States to ensure equal access to justice under the law by 
providing legal assistance in civil matter to low-income individuals. 
LSC is headed by an 11-member board of directors, appointed by the 
President and confirmed by the Senate.
    LSC does not itself provide legal services to low-income Americans. 
The Corporation is authorized by Congress to make grants and contracts 
to support the provision of civil legal assistance to clients who meet 
eligibility requirements. LSC develops and administers policy 
consistent with Congressional mandate, secures and receives federal 
appropriations and allocates these appropriations to not-for-profit 
legal services organizations throughout the county; assures that 
grantees of LSC funds comply with federal law and regulations; and 
guarantees the delivery of high quality services to eligible low-income 
people in the United States and its territories. LSC makes grants to 
organizations that provide legal assistance to indigent persons 
throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, 
the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Micronesia. LSC grants federal 
dollars to independent local programs chosen through a system of 
competition.
    As a delivery system, legal services programs provide a full range 
of services to eligible clients. While grantees provide many kinds of 
services to clients, all are reported to LSC as either cases (the CSR 
reporting system) or matters (the MSR reporting system). However, 
neither CSR nor MSR statistics give any information on the outcome of a 
particular case. In fact, the CSR system reveals very little about a 
case closed by and LSC-funded grantee other than the following:
    [sbull] That the grantee accepted the case, that is, the case met 
the eligibility guidelines established by the program's board and by 
LSC;
    [sbull] That the case was ``completed'' or closed within the 
calendar year covered by the CSR submission;
    [sbull] The manner in which the case was handled, such as `advice'; 
and
    [sbull] The general area of law in which the case falls (e.g., 
housing law, family law).
    This is perceived as problematic for several reasons:
    (1) By simply counting closed cases the CSR system reduces the 
provision of legal services to a number rather than helping us 
understand what changes grantees have made in the lives of our clients 
and their communities.
    (2) Reducing to a single number (a ``closed case'') the services 
that a grantee provides to a client makes the work of grantees seem 
easy and undemanding.
    (3) Because the CSR data do not measure performance and outcomes, 
it does not allow LSC and its grantees to objectively track whether we 
are expanding access and improving performance quality as required by 
LSC's five-year Strategic Plan.
    (4) CSR data do not allow for comparisons of grantees in terms of 
the efficiency and effectiveness of grantees' work for clients. 
Although we are able to extrapolate ``cost-per-case'' from the CSR 
data, the data do not enable us to identify which grantees are working 
ineffectively or do not otherwise meet the standards commonly expected 
of high quality legal services providers. Conversely, we cannot 
objectively identify our strongest programs so that we can understand 
what makes them ``best'' in order to replicate them.
    (5) The CSR/MSR data do not present information that allows the 
legal service community to draw reasonable conclusions about what 
happened to

[[Page 63682]]

those clients who were given advice or brief service, or who received 
assistance through a service classified by LSC as a ``matter'', such as 
the receipt of community legal education materials.

Request for Information

    LSC invites interested parties to submit written information 
relevant to the development of outcomes measures for legal services 
programs. Information provided through public submission will be 
considered by the Legal Services Corporation in developing a strategy 
to design a data system to supplant or supplement the current CSR and 
MSR systems.
    Materials submitted should be confined to the specific topic of the 
study. In particular, the LSC is seeking written submissions on the 
following topics: Outcomes and related performance measurement systems 
for legal services programs currently in use across the country; 
optimal ways to assess equity, quality, and efficiency within and 
across legal services agencies; the types of performance information 
that can and should be tracked in a viable performance measurement 
system; performance measurement in relation to other evaluation 
activities; the performance measurement development process; and 
optimal ways of assessing the accuracy and usefulness of performance 
measurement systems.
    Information acquired through this Request for Information process 
is provided voluntarily, will not be compensated, and will not obligate 
LSC to pursue any particular course of action or strategy.

Victor M. Fortuno,
General Counsel and Vice President for Legal Affairs.
[FR Doc. 02-26160 Filed 10-11-02; 8:45 am]
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